Aston Villa are considering delaying an offer to sign a new central midfielder, who already has a connection to Unai Emery.

The Midlands club is willing to go to any length to secure the services of one of their transfer targets in January.

According to a new report, Aston Villa are considering delaying an offer to sign a new central midfielder, who already has a connection to Unai Emery.

Aston Villa’s midfield could be weakened by Luiz’s departure NSWE and Monchi currently have Douglas Luiz, Jacob Ramsey, John McGinn, Youri Tielemans, and Tim Iroegbunam as their options in central midfield, but two of those could leave at some point next year.

Arsenal have long admired Luiz and have reportedly made him their top priority ahead of the upcoming transfer window, whereas Tielemans has fallen significantly out of favour under the manager since joining over the summer, having made zero Premier League starts so far this season (WhoScored – Tielemans statistics).

The Midlands club will have to enter the market to find replacements if one or both of the pair are lost, and it appears that chiefs have set their sights on Real Madrid’s Dani Ceballos, who has made 124 appearances for Carlo Ancelotti’s side since joining from Real Betis in 2017 (Transfermarkt – Ceballos statistics).

Spain’s international joined Arsenal on loan for two seasons from 2019 to 2021, so he has been managed by Emery while he was in the Emirates Stadium dugout, and if the following update is to be believed, the 27-year-old could be about to create a reunion with his former boss, only this time at Villa Park.

Aston Villa are planning a move for Dani Ceballos.

Aston Villa are ready to make a move for Ceballos, according to Spanish reports (via CaughtOffside). The Villans are “willing to submit an offer” of around €30 million (£26 million) to secure the services of their target because they are “determined” to sign him in January.

The Real Madrid star is “expected to leave” the Bernabeu Stadium in the coming months in search of more regular game time, so with the player’s positive relationship with Emery, this could be a situation to keep an eye on in the near future.

Ceballos is regarded as a “genius” by Real Madrid.
Despite being a box-to-box midfielder, Ceballos is stronger in the offensive aspect of his game, having made 41 contributions (26 assists and 15 goals) since the start of his career, and he constantly poses a threat to the opposing defense, even if the end product doesn’t always come to fruition.

Utrera’s native ranks in the 99th percentile for successful midfielder take-ons, indicating that he enjoys using his pace and guile to dribble past his marker and create chances for himself and his teammates in the final third (FBRef – Ceballos statistics).

Furthermore, Ancelotti’s “genius,” as hailed by football talent scout Jacek Kulig, is extremely calm and composed in possession, with a 94.6% pass success rate in La Liga, so his ability to control the game when on the ball will be another appealing attribute to Emery and Aston Villa.